Welcome and Beware!

Visiting Newport Cathedral on 31 October Wendy observed this "Amazing poster on entry to the Cathedral".

If Wendy is unknown to readers, especially those in the Monmouth diocese, reading the bishop-elect's letter to her electors should clarify and explain how the 'inclusive Gospel of Jesus Christ' has become 'amazing' to some in the Church in Wales:

 8th November 2019

"From the Venerable Cherry Vann    

Dear Electors,

A lot has happened since we last met on 17th September 2019 and I am looking forward to moving in to Bishopstow at the beginning of December and beginning a new ministry among you in the new year.

As a way of thanking you for the part you played in the three day marathon that was the Electoral College, Wendy and I would like to invite you and some of the diocesan officers to Bishopstow for drinks and nibbles on Thursday 19th December, 5.00 – 7.00pm. Please come for all or for part of those two hours, as you are able. It would be lovely to see you for a more relaxed and informal conversation for however long you can come. 

In the meantime, be assured of my prayers for you and for the Diocese of Monmouth and please do pray for Wendy and I as we prepare to leave Manchester and move to a new life and ministry in the Church in Wales. 

I very much look forward to seeing you again  

Prayers and good wishes

Cherry"

It is not clear from Cherry's letter what part of  her episcopal ministry Wendy will be sharing in but this must be another first for the Church in Wales which, in the words of the bishop of Llandaff, has "unhealthy preoccupations with gender and sexuality".

The Church in Wales press office and the Diocese of Monmouth declined to comment on whether the cohabiting bishop-elect is in a partnered same-sex relationship but nevertheless the appointment is a slap in the face for the Governing Body after they rejected a bid by the bench of bishops to ditch traditional teaching on marriage and allow same-sex marriage in Church.

It is also a snub to the Anglican Communion position that marriage is intended to be a faithful, exclusive, lifelong union of a man and a woman. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is not inviting same-sex spouses to the 2020 Lambeth Conference of bishops.

More welcome in the divided diocese of Monmouth would have been a spiritually uplifting appointment, not another nod to inclusivity, a euphemism if ever there was one, and further division.